It’s not a secret that Korea is highly advanced in terms of technology. Everyone is a fan of saving time and efficiency, and it has become very deep rooted in the culture. It’s easy to find evidence of this, especially when you’re in the middle of a weekday lunch rush. You’ll see everyone around you tapping either the little screen in the palm of their hands or their feet impatiently.
Recently, businesses have started installing digital kiosks at restaurants to help customers place their orders quickly. This helps reduce the service time taken with manned cashiers and to some people’s delight, removes the need for social interaction during their break time! I’m all for technology and personal space, but these shiny new booths have created a new type of silence.
In my country, lunchtime meant going to my favorite stall, making small talk with the vendor and the occasional light banter with other customers. On your best days, you’d always feel excited about noontime when you get to leave the walls confining you and your screen for a chance to finally take a breath of fresh air and feel the lively buzz in the air. Here in Korea, you simply line up and after a series of taps on the colorful icons on the screen, you wait for your number to show up on the screen and you get your food.
Some restaurants also offer tablets on the table where you can also pay using your card directly. With a light tap on the bright screen, they’ll bring whatever you want to the table. Some establishments even introduced high tech robot servers to serve your food. It’s as if the future has already arrived in Korea! These exciting new additions to dining experiences are certainly things to appreciate, but after a while, I started missing the social interactions I was so used to having.
Most of the time now, all I do is sit with my meal in front of me and my phone on the other side. It feels like taking my phone out on a first date every time, considering how I rarely take my eyes off it. While I certainly miss the opportunity to socialize with people during break time, I cannot complain about the convenience of how everything is set up here. However, it’s impossible not to think about how different things are between Korean society and life back home!
Photo courtesy of Hyundai Card
It’s not a secret that Korea is highly advanced in terms of technology. Everyone is a fan of saving time and efficiency, and it has become very deep rooted in the culture. It’s easy to find evidence of this, especially when you’re in the middle of a weekday lunch rush. You’ll see everyone around you tapping either the little screen in the palm of their hands or their feet impatiently.
Recently, businesses have started installing digital kiosks at restaurants to help customers place their orders quickly. This helps reduce the service time taken with manned cashiers and to some people’s delight, removes the need for social interaction during their break time! I’m all for technology and personal space, but these shiny new booths have created a new type of silence.
In my country, lunchtime meant going to my favorite stall, making small talk with the vendor and the occasional light banter with other customers. On your best days, you’d always feel excited about noontime when you get to leave the walls confining you and your screen for a chance to finally take a breath of fresh air and feel the lively buzz in the air. Here in Korea, you simply line up and after a series of taps on the colorful icons on the screen, you wait for your number to show up on the screen and you get your food.
Some restaurants also offer tablets on the table where you can also pay using your card directly. With a light tap on the bright screen, they’ll bring whatever you want to the table. Some establishments even introduced high tech robot servers to serve your food. It’s as if the future has already arrived in Korea! These exciting new additions to dining experiences are certainly things to appreciate, but after a while, I started missing the social interactions I was so used to having.
Most of the time now, all I do is sit with my meal in front of me and my phone on the other side. It feels like taking my phone out on a first date every time, considering how I rarely take my eyes off it. While I certainly miss the opportunity to socialize with people during break time, I cannot complain about the convenience of how everything is set up here. However, it’s impossible not to think about how different things are between Korean society and life back home!
Photo courtesy of Hyundai Card